Extremists feared to discrupt Pope's Manila visit
Extremists feared to discrupt Pope's Manila visit
MANILA (Agencies): Fundamentalist groups pose a potential threat to Pope John Paul II when he visits the Philippines next week and security will be tight to eliminate any assassination attempts, Cardinal Jaime Sin said yesterday.
Sin, the Manila archbishop, said in a television interview here that there were people, "mainly who are fundamentalist," who were now being kept under close surveillance by police ahead of the Jan. 12-16 pastoral and state visit. He did not elaborate.
"Even in Rome there are security threats because there are evil people who would like to destroy goodness. But always, goodness will prevail," the cardinal said.
"It is good that we know it beforehand," he said. "The security people know about this so there will be tight security to protect the life of the father."
Although Sin did not specify any group, the Abu Sayyaf, an armed Moslem fundamentalist group in the southern Philippines, has launched several attacks against Christian targets in recent years including the bombing of shrines and the kidnapping of priests and nuns.
However, no explicit threat has been made against John Paul II here so far.
Manila yesterday has also ordered its embassies to be on guard against issuing visas to 109 people who may pose a security threat during Pope John Paul's visit this month.
The names, which have not been made public, were supplied to Manila by the Vatican, according to local newspapers. Embassies in the Middle East have been told to be particularly watchful.
The Polish pontiff was wounded in an assassination attempt in Rome in 1981, shortly after he made his first visit to the Philippines, the only predominantly Roman Catholic nation in Asia, in his capacity as head of the world's 700 million Catholics.
After Manila he is scheduled to visit Papua New Guinea, Australia and Sri Lanka.
While in Manila he will be using a three million-peso (US$125,000), locally-assembled, bullet-proof bubble-top jeep similar to the "popemobile" he rides in during public appearances in Europe and elsewhere.
The pope is scheduled to address the 10th World Youth Day here on Jan. 15, when 300,000 young people from around the world are expected to assemble in a Manila park.
He will also lead the celebrations for the 400th year of the Philippine capital's elevation into an archdiocese, and attend a meeting of Asian bishops.
Asked about concerns about the pope's failing health, Cardinal Sin said, "What gives the pope energy is the thought about the Philippines," and that "thinking about this country alone is enough to make him stronger."
He said the pope will be fit enough for the Philippine leg, "but I don't know after the Philippines, because he will not receive the same welcome in Papua New Guinea, and maybe in Sydney and Sri Lanka."
The Philippines is home to about half of Asia's 100 million Catholics.
He said John Paul II was "physically affected" by an accident in which he broke one leg bone, "but the mind works. The feet do not think, it is the mind that does."